


September

by parttimehuman



Series: Rarepair Galore [21]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Nolan wears Theo's pink hoodie, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Softness, Sort Of, There's no plot here, just fluff, this is an emotional support fluff fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 08:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20579252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: It’s September, and what Nolan is watching is summer coming to an end. A summer that brought on a romance between him and Theo. But is that over now, too?





	September

**Author's Note:**

  * For [osirismind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/osirismind/gifts).

> As (almost) always, this is not beta'd, edited or proof-read. This is not an attempt at writing the greatest story the world has ever seen. Just enjoy the softness!

When the wind whistles outside and heavy drops of rain patter against the window panes, there’s a strange, soft magic to being inside - to the warmth and calm and safety. Nolan pulls the blanket up to his nose until only his sleepy eyes and the messed up mop of blond hair on his head peek out from underneath it. Theo’s bed stands right at the large window, allowing him to watch from his spot in the cushions as leaves dance through the air and raindrops race each other down the glass. 

It’s September, and what Nolan is watching is summer coming to an end. The last heatwave is over, Theo’s fan shut off and unplugged in the far corner of his bedroom. The sun is hiding behind a heavy, gray cloud and after months of trouble sleeping, after months of sweaty skin and noisy nights and laziness, Nolan feels like fresh air finally streams into his lungs. 

It’s not like he wasn’t enjoying the hot weather and the sunshine and the days at the lake. How could he dislike barbecues and homemade lemonade and the scent of sunscreen? How could he, especially after the summer he’s had? 

At the end of the school year, he was just another one of hundreds of students at Beacon Hills High. A graduate even, but still, the initials he wrote on the shelf in the library disappeared in a sea of countless more initials, and he was no one special. AP physics would find another brightest brain and the lacrosse team a new captain after the holidays. People went off in all kinds of different directions while Nolan had no idea who he even was. 

If someone had told him all those weeks ago that his path would lead him not only towards, but incredibly close to Theo Raeken, he would have straight up laughed at them, but the summer brought the two of them time, and long talks under the stars. It gave Nolan more freckles and Theo lighter hair, and it drew them together like magnets. Bare arms brushed together all the time, bare legs too. Reddened cheeks and ragged breathing were caused by each other’s presence as much as their bike races to the shore of the lake.

It seems crazy, to know Theo the way he does now, including the early morning look when his eyes are little slits and his lips in a grumpy pout, including him dripping wet after swimming, including the scar on his knee that he’s had since he fell from a tree as a kid, including the stupid voice he makes when he talks to his cat. The apple pancakes that only Theo does the way he does them and the feeling of his palm pressed against Nolan’s. The scent that Nolan is breathing in now with his nose buried in Theo’s bedding, one that he can’t describe in other words than the boy’s name, because it’s so distinctly and sacredly  _ Theo _ to him that it almost makes him feel insane for how much he’s come to love it. 

A summer like that makes you free. Running into the waves with someone right beside you holding your hand, wind in your hair and sunrays warming your face, you tend to not have a single care in the world. During a summer like that, falling in love doesn’t seem like falling at all. If anything, it’s like soaring. It’s like being lifted off the ground and being weightless, being out of gravity’s reach. 

Big, bright smiles and shimmering eyes and arms wrapped around another made promises all summer long, but with words, neither of them committed to anything. Now, the seasons are changing and Nolan finds himself waking up in Theo’s bed, in Theo’s home, in Theo’s life. Early in the morning, Theo got up to run some errands, saying he’d be back around noon with groceries, leaving it up to Nolan if he wants to stay until then. And now? 

Looking out of the window and down to the street, Nolan can see his and Theo’s bike at the side of the building standing next to each other, both wet from the rain. Whatever comes next, it’s not bike tours anymore. Looking up at the sky, Nolan sees grays instead of light blues and fluffy whites. Whatever comes next, it’s not being outside all day every day anymore. Nolan sits up and looks around. He’s here. Right in the middle of what’s Theo’s. The summer is over, but are they over too? Nolan feels a shudder going through him as he thinks it. 

No. He gets up and crosses the room. Through the open door, he can see his and Theo’s shoes where they kicked them off last night right by the entrance. Is he going to just put them back on and leave the same way he came? 

Nolan turns around and looks back at the bed he’s slept so well in. He doesn’t want to go. He doesn’t want to leave just yet. 

Instead, he sits down at Theo’s desk, fingers trailing over the things he finds there, careful not to knock anything over. There’s a picture of a much younger Theo sandwiched between Scott and Stiles. All three of them seem to consist of big eyes and gappy rows of teeth and bony shoulders. It makes Nolan chuckle. A part of him wishes he’d known Theo back then. There’s a more recent picture too, one of Theo and his family - Tara and their parents in front of a christmas tree. Nolan has never met these people, but after the stories he’s heard from Theo, their faces almost don’t seem so unfamiliar anymore. Of course, the biggest frame on Theo’s desk holds a photo of his cat, Alice, a pretty little lady that Nolan hasn’t gotten more than a skeptical glance and an extended claw from before she ran and hid. 

Even just seeing Theo’s handwriting on a post-it makes Nolan smile. It’s neat and clean compared to most guys he knows, and it would almost be well legible, wasn’t it for the fact that Theo’s letters are so small, you practically need a magnifying glass to read them. For a moment, Nolan closes his eyes and allows himself to get lost in the memory of Theo pulling out a sharpie to write his number on Nolan’s arm. He had to try four times until the person he called was actually Theo because somehow, fives and nines looked the same. 

Nolan isn’t looking for anything as he rolls the chair from Theo’s desk in front of his closet, he just likes to look at the things that belong to the boy and see Theo in them, a different part of him in each thing he finds. He opens the closet and touches different fabrics, rubbing them between his fingers. He finds the shirt that Theo was wearing when he took Nolan’s hands for the first time. And the swimming trunks that Nolan saw almost every day of the summer. 

Nolan’s hands stops trailing before his eyes find focus. The fabric he’s looking at is a bright pink, but that’s not why it’s catching his attention. It’s the softness. Nolan pulls out the hoodie from between other sweaters and holds it in his hands. He vaguely remembers Theo wearing it to school, but that was a time before Nolan knew to appreciate him in the same way he does now. Now, all he wants is to see Theo in the hoodie again, sleeves almost swallowing his hands, the bright color making the green in his eyes pop, the fluffy fabric giving him a cozy, cuddly look. 

All of a sudden, Nolan feels the need to hug Theo for a long time. He presses the hoodie against his chest, against his face, breathes in, rubs it against his cheeks. He doesn’t know why he loves it so much, but he does. He wants to… - wait, can he? 

Nolan doesn’t have to turn his head to the window to know that it’s still raining. If Theo comes home and finds him in his hoodie, he can always say he’s borrowing it because he got cold. Theo isn’t going to be bothered by it, is he? There was this one time when he gave Nolan one of his shirts to wear, and then there was this look on his face when it hung loosely from Nolan’s shoulders… 

No, Theo probably won’t be bothered by it. Nolan pulls the hoodie over his head and down around his body. It’s a little too big, but he actually loves it that way. For a minute or so, he stands in front of Theo’s mirror and just stares, at himself and Theo’s hoodie, and the combination of both, wondering if it will fuck Theo up on the inside in the same glorious way as it does Nolan.

After the beautiful summer romance he’s been living in, this is still the best feeling in the world, Nolan thinks. He pulls up the hood over his head and lets his hands disappear inside the long sleeves, climbing back into bed and curling up against Theo’s pillows with his eyes pressed shut in pure bliss. When Alice nudges her furry little head against his nose and lies does in front of his belly, Nolan has drifted far enough off already to not be sure if he’s dreaming it.

*

Theo is barely through the front door when the wet paper bags from the grocery store give out. He tightens his arms around all the stuff they were supposed to hold together and slides down to the floor where he carefully lets go of everything, trying not to make too much noise in case Nolan is still sleeping. In case Nolan is even still there. 

With every step he got closer to his apartment, his heart started beating faster and louder in his chest. He might have made it sound casual when he gave Nolan the choice whether to leave or stay in the morning, but he isn’t casual about it at all. On the inside, Theo is as excited and scared at the same time as he’s ever been. If Nolan is gone, his heart will be broken. 

Theo works himself out of the dripping wet jacket and decides to leave the groceries right there on the floor for a minute when he realizes that Nolan’s shoes still lie there among his own. He’s a tidy kind of person, usually, but this is more important. He needs to see with his own eyes that Nolan is still there. That Nolan chose to stay and wait for him. That the end of summer is not the end of them. 

In damp socks and on the tips of his toes, Theo sneaks through the apartment and into his bedroom. The door is open and he stands in it for a moment, unable to go any further, not wanting to interrupt what he’s looking at, which is the most perfect thing he’s ever laid eyes on. Why the hell is there a tear in his eye now? 

There’s his room like it always was, with his bed by the window and the rain softly pattering against it. And then there’s Nolan, peacefully asleep, wearing Theo’s hoodie, his favorite hoodie, lying on his side with Alice pressed up against his chest, her little head resting on Nolan’s upper arm. 

And all the time while he was gone, Theo feared that Nolan would be gone, but he’s the opposite. He’s not just still there, not just physically present in Theo’s home, it’s more like he’s a part of it. His blond hair coming out from under the pink hood gives Theo feelings, and his even breaths make Theo weak. The grip of Nolan’s hand around the corner of Theo’s pillow hits him right in the mushiest place in his heart. 

As silently as possible, Theo takes off his socks and pants and sweater until he’s in boxer shorts and a t-shirt. Same as Alice, Nolan gives a cute little sound when the mattress dips and Theo lifts the blanket to slip underneath. He’s cold from the rain outside and the bed is warm, but Nolan is a whole different kind of warm. 

Theo lies down and kisses his forehead. They’re as close as it’s possible with a cat between them, Theo’s arms gently laid around Nolan, fingers stroking his back. He looks at the gray outside and the rain and then at Nolan, and he finds that September is no less beautiful than the pinnacle of summer. He’s got sunshine right there in his arms, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Try making my day by hitting the kudos button or leaving me a comment! I swear I'll be stupid-smiling!


End file.
